Electronic devices play integral roles in manufacturing, communication, healthcare, commerce, social interaction, and entertainment. For example, electronic devices enable the server farms that provide cloud-based, distributed computing functionality for commerce and communication. Devices with computing power are also embedded in many different types of modern equipment, from medical devices to appliances and from vehicles to industrial tools. Thus, electronic devices are manufactured in a multitude of sizes, powers, and form factors for an even greater array of purposes.
One particularly prominent purpose is communication. Communication between two electronic devices can be accomplished using one or more channels, such as a wired channel or a wireless channel. Wired channels typically offer greater bandwidth, but wired channels also require an electronic device to be physically tethered to the signal propagation conduit—e.g., a fiber optic cable or a twisted-pair wire. In contrast, electronic devices that are using a wireless channel are untethered and can be mobile because the signal propagation conduit includes air or free space. However, wireless channels are inferior to wired channels in some respects. For example, the usable bandwidth in a wireless channel is often lower than the usable bandwidth in a wired channel. Accordingly, electronic device manufacturers continue to search for ways to improve the usability of wireless channels for electronic communications.
This background description is provided to generally present the context of the disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, material described in this section is neither expressly nor impliedly admitted to be prior art to the present disclosure or the appended claims.